Oh my, Malta is going to export a cabbage to the city of sprouts
Malta will soon have a sixth representative in the European Parliament
The longer we take to get our sixth seat in the European Parliament, the better. If everyone drags their feet long enough, we’ll get it in time for the next EP elections, and then we won’t need to dispatch a Maltese cabbage to the home of Brussels sprouts.
Can you imagine Joseph Cuschieri running an MEP’s office, organising meetings, formulating questions, sitting on committees? Because I can’t.
Cuschieri is Joseph Muscat’s personal problem. He is the Labour Party’s problem. He isn’t Malta’s problem and he doesn’t have to become Malta’s problem.
First the Labour Party elects a leader who wasn’t elected by the people and doesn’t have a seat in parliament, meaning that he can’t take the oath as leader of the Opposition and has no constitutional role.
Then it press-gangs and manipulates the weakest, most vulnerable and possibly least intelligent Labour MP into giving up his seat for the party leader, a raw deal of the first order in which he received nothing in return except the passing acknowledgement that he had sacrificed himself.
And then the Labour Party proceeded to do a Joe Stalin on the facts, trying to obliterate from history that this is how the Great Leader got to be Leader of the Opposition, because it doesn’t look good. So Cuschieri’s sacrifice – or was it sheer gullibility – was left out of the Great Exhibition on the Golden 90 Years of Labour.
All right, so Muscat rang around a couple of people, pulling strings to get Cuschieri a job – he says. But nobody obliged, and quite frankly, I’m not surprised. They probably thought: ‘You got what you wanted from him. You created his problems. Now YOU give him a bloody job and pay him, dammit.”
Joseph Cuschieri was promised a bird in the bush – the sixth seat in the European Parliament. While I feel sort of sorry for him as I do for the weak and vulnerable victims of all forms of opportunistic bullying – and what Muscat and Labour did to him was definitely bullying – I’m also really glad that he hasn’t got that seat yet, especially after his statement this morning.
Here’s timesofmalta.com:
Malta should not provide Greece with a second bailout before the latter signed the protocol which would enable Malta to take up its sixth seat in the European Parliament, Joseph Cuschieri, Malta’s sixth MEP, said.
In a statement this morning, he said that when agreeing to give the second bailout to Greece, the government should have pressed for the ratification of the protocol.
Greece, he said, was one of the five countries dragging their feet to ratify the protocol.
The EU, he said, was not doing its share to implement its promises on the sixth seat. And while Malta was willing to help Greece get out of the economic turmoil it found itself in, Greece was not helping Malta get its sixth representative in the EP.
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Besides the fact that the Greeks have more pressing matters to deal with, isn’t the Greek PM a Socialist leader too?
Then how hard is Joseph pressuring the Greek PM to make this happen?
Why is it not Joseph Muscat making statements like the above – was it not him who “borrowed” Mr. Cuschieri’s seat in the Maltese Parliament?
I suppose Mr. Muscat realises that statements like those made by Mr. Cuschieri are not politically responsible.
If I were in the shoes of the Greeks, I would make sure that the ratification is made the latest possible. Actually, in the circumstances, I would use the ratification as a permanent threat to the EU so that they keep bailing me out every year or so, unless the EU was instead willing to sign a total debt forgiveness treaty with Greece!
Here’s another one who’s totally lost in the fog of the left-right paradigm.
I am lost in love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o55x5Q2MhT4
Am I making sense? No. But then neither does Kev.
Marika, and because the Greek government is a Socialist one – as opposed to a right wing government – why is Joseph Muscat (and Joseph Cuschieri) not taking the opportunity to ask that Greece helps us out with the immigrants problem in return for financial aid?
I am only using Joseph Muscat’s reasoning – the same reasoning he seems to have used with Red Ed – not my own logic, of course.
When I read this piece on timesofmalta.com, I checked your blog immediately. This guy is just unbelievably clueless. It would be utterly embarrassing to have him as an MEP. He should stop whining. It just makes him look more and more pitiful.
Whenever I think of the EU, I see it as an utterly futile institution – a bureaucratic monster, where mediocre individuals (one of your hardcore contributors to this blog springs to mind) can find solace in an insipid and useless existence – in some obscure committee or translating legislation, supposedly for the benefit of the ordinary Maltese Joe.
However, I must say that Joseph Cuschieri, who cannot construe two gramatically correct sentences to save his life, actually manages to justify the use of translators and interpreters.
The EU is a great idea but (human) greed is present in every human institution, indeed, practically in every human being and, at the end of the day, this is what screws it up to some extent.
Everyone is greedy, from the bankers with their bonuses to the humble clerks stealing stationery to staff in the hospital stealing paper towels and toilet paper. (Yes, that’s right).
At least the EU tries to promote a united Europe with rights for all its citizens.
I so fail to understand your reasoning behind your claim of the EU being a futile institution. How can you call an institution that believes in peace, solidarity and unity futile?
There were countless instances in the recent past which could have led to dire political situations where it not for the ‘futile’ EU treaties.
Admittedly to the lay and uneducated person, these are mere voluminous legal texts, but slight motivation to learn more would reveal their true objective such as the solidarity being shown to Greece at this difficult time – a situation any country could have been faced with and which any country would have welcomed assistance for.
They shouldn’t refer to him as an MEP because he isn’t, yet.
You’re thinking of the European Commission, not the European Parliament, which is what Joseph Cuschieri aspires to join.
Crass = –adjective, -er, -est.
1. without refinement, delicacy, or sensitivity; gross; obtuse; stupid: crass commercialism; a crass misrepresentation of the facts.
2. Archaic . thick; coarse.
Take your pick
The least Muscat could have done is employ Joseph Cuschieri with the family fireworks business, delivering the odd sack of explosives and running errands. I think Cushchieri has realised by now what a gullible sucker he is and why no one else volunteered his seat for the great leader.
beneath the same article on timesofmalta.com
Alfred Fenech
Today, 10:55
Vanity before all. Why pay up at all. We do not have any natural resourses, but pampaluni we have indeed.
Who needs a Joseph Cuschieri with people like Wenzu, Toninu, Daddu and Dwinu?
Great name that, Dwinu – short for what please?
Does Labour have any kind of organisation that vets their people before engaging the brain with the press? Methinks not.
This is all about Joey Muscat and his affection to Mintoffian methods, particularly, blackmail!
Shape of things to come post 2013.
You really have to wonder about Cuschieri’s IQ level. My guess is that it’s somewhere between the IQ of a hanfusa and gidra.
Let me see if I understand the logic of Joseph Cuschieri’s proposal for Malta’s political arm-twisting of the powers in the land of Brussels sprouts: (1) either ratify a protocol so Malta can take its sixth MEP seat, or else…or else…(2) try to bring about the collapse of the euro and another world recession.
So, it’s either his job, or else the probable jobs of millions.
I would suggest that the sacrificial lamb do more sacrificing, as we all are doing (perhaps insufficiently within the EU) regarding the fragile medium-term to long-term economics of Europe and the world.
Irresponsibility seems to inhabit the cabbage patches of Labour, or is it just ignorance, or greed for power.
If the Euro collapsed, Cuschieri would be out of a job anyway.
Could it be that Red Ed is a cabbage too:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jul/01/ed-miliband-interviewer-shame-strike-soundbites
The only reason why I would like to see Joe Cuschieri take his place in Brussels is simply for him to be able to draw a huge pay packet with perks for a while, and in retrospect he might also realise that it is good to be in the EU after all and we would have achieved another convert of convenience. Otherwise his absence will not harm us at all because I very much doubt what would his contribution be.
His comment about the loan to Greece shows clearly what the attitude of the PL will be should it win the 2013 election. The comment is nothing less but an echo of his master..
We may get lucky and he’ll never get to Brussels.
Joseph Cuschieri’s statement was so stupid not even Maltastar deemed it newsworthy. So much for your sacrifice, Zepp…done and dusted.
He’s probably more at home running after the statue of Madonna tal-Karmnu during the feast in Balluta
Well at least the bailout got a mention. We’ll be borrowing over half a billion euros to contribute towards the bottomless pit of this Debt Union. So expect our annual interest bill to rise and keep on rising.
Imagine, at the 23-24 June Council meeting they signed the Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism – http://www.openeurope.org.uk/docs/draftesmtreaty.pdf with an initial lending capacity of €500 billion (which don’t exist) – a permanent bailout mechanism whereby debt-stricken eurozone members borrow (mostly new) money to re-lend it to bankrupt members, all the while ensuring that all states get deeper and deeper into debt… Add that to the current €440 billion facility and you’re close to a trillion debt-euros by 2013. It seems that all the IMF and ECB can think of is how to create more debt!
Soon we’ll be told that fiscal union is the only solution. And with debt now a permanent fixture all Europeans will be perpetually enslaved by the central banks that rule us.
As the second US President John Adams said: “There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.”
This blog is a reflection of the state of illusion you live in. You don’t just believe the bull they throw at you. You actually digest it and live on it!
I am compiling a list of words which Kev responds to instinctively:
– debt
– constitutional money
– neutrality
and of course: bailout.
Kev, you are a reflection of birds sitting on a perch milking the hand which feeds it and demeaning its employer revelling the state of things from your high pulpit contributing zilg.
Is that confusing – intentional. I am trying to break your code.
What a stale comment, Micallef. It amply reflects your sorry state of mind, not even realising what the EP is supposed to represent.
True, Kev – my only consolation is that others are far beyond the state of sorry. I like you better here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3bQZW7S8vM
Joe Micallef, watch it! I’ve seen Kev giving this sort of reply before. It is short and leaves you more perplexed than before. Then, if you reply, he will dump several video links on you, including some important ones starring Nigel Farage.
But then it will all boil down to yet another alleged conspiracy.
I can see that coming in Kev’s words “not even realising what the EP is supposed to represent.” I am morally convinced that according to Kev, the EP represents another big Soviet conspiracy to enslave the people.
Kevvy, nice one. Cynically introducing ‘bailout’ in order to launch upon your EU/conspiracy diatribe. The Cuschieri idiot doesn’t even know how to spell bailout.
However, there is a kernel of truth in your words. The EU/IMF is, as we economists say, ‘kicking the can down the road’. The debt cannot be repaid. Without unified fiscal policy, the Euro is doomed.
Nothing to do with conspiracies, Kevvy, just pure common sense economics.
BTW, go easy on the exclamation marks.
“Nothing to do with conspiracies, Kevvy, just pure common sense economics.” And exactly so.
In fact, Harry, as you say, Kev is right to lament about debt.
But debt is only the difference in the equation: revenue less spending, plus of course any previous debt.
Therefore it is no use looking at the debt and conjuring up conspiracies.
One has to look as to whether there is excessive spending or under-taxation (or tax evasion).
In the case of Malta, I believe that the debt shows mainly that the government is still a major operator and player in the economy. Too much free government education and health services, for instance. Too many subsidised operations. The eternal pursuit is that of reducing the size of government, because as it is, it is generating too many diseconomies of scale.
Political interests do come into it, but calling them conspiracies serves only as an excuse to dishearten the public.
Well, I was right about your digesting the bull, Purdie, wasn’t I?
Here is a perfect example how to increase the size of government and under-tax.
I do not see any conspiracy. I just see Joseph Muscat being opportunistic as he campaigns to become a PM. In doing so, he is showing sheer economic incompetence and indirectly suggesting that the service should be subsidised from debt. He is effectively implying that the service of a Park and Ride should be free.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110703/local/muscat.373702
Do the economic analysis, Kevvy. It will be proven that proper monetary union requires contol over both monetary policy and fiscal policy. The ECB only controls monetary policy–a recipe for disaster that has already begun.
Oh, the majority of the ‘bull’ I detect on the blog pertains to your inane meanderings, somewhat indigestible.
He is effectively implying that taxpayers should pay for a service they don’t necessarily use so that those who use it won’t have to pay for it even if they don’t pay any tax.
And is it just me, or is it a little bit strange that Muscat thinks charging for a park & ride scheme is a form of exploitation, when owning a car requires more capital expenditure than paying for a seasonal bus ticket?
La Redoute, you are right about the capital cost of the car. But if you bought an Alfa or a Kia Sportage and you signed up to Labour’s court case (what happened to that – it’s been over a year now?), then you will also get a refund if Labour wins that case. Too many ifs, though.
What seems sure is that under Labour, the Park and Ride will change its name to Free Rider’s.
You people are so far off the mark I can only sit back and force a sigh. With your staple being The Box and the corporate media I cannot blame you much. Your very arrogance is derived from your being kept in the dark.
We are witnessing the controlled demolition of the West for reasons you will never understand with your current input – from the collapsing dollar to the creation of the EU permanent debt mechanism, to the ‘Arab Spring’ spectacle… you will never understand that everything they’re telling you is twisted and distorted to a degree of deception you never thought could possibly exist.
And if it’s too incredible to be true, why bother with the evidence, aye?
Let me just give you a hint: the Monopoly game has been won by the very few who literally own the shares (officially secret – by law) of the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve, the ECB and a multitude of central banks across the globe, plus of course, the IMF, the WB, etc. You see, you control the issuance of currency (and debt, when money is debt) and you control the globe by enslaving everyone through debt.
Komplu hallsu t-taxxi ghall-interessi, skjavi!
…and just to spare you some frustration, if you and your cronies owned the Fed, the BoE, the ECB, etc… wouldn’t you want to amalgamate them into one world central bank with which you and your cronies could issue a world currency?
Kev, you’ve been hovering around the edge these last two years, and never committing yourself. Let me make it easier for you.
Are the Jews responsible?
Back in your Maltafly days you seemed to be rather chummy with Norman Lowell, and you’ve been making hints ever since, without ever mentioning the word. So are you saying there’s a Jewish bankers’ conspiracy?
Kev, I can’t believe some of the material you have written above, but now I understand why you amuse yourself with conspiracies.
At least some of the statements you make above are factually wrong, and I never expected you, of all people, to make a slip like that.
Take your statement about the ownership of the Bank of England, for instance. The BoE was nationalised in 1946 – that’s more than 60 years ago – and you had not realised. Did Nigel Farage never mention it to you?
Never heard about the Bank of England Act 1946? Incidentally, it starts with the following:
“An Act to bring the capital stock of the Bank of England into public ownership and bring the Bank under public control, to make provision with respect to the relations between the Treasury, the Bank of England and other banks and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid. [14 February 1946]
Here is the full text of the Act – it is not long.
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/legislation/1946act.pdf
You can also check on the BoE website about its ownership.
The shares of the BoE are held by the Treasury of the UK government.
And you should also know that the ECB is owned by the member central banks of the EU, among which, for instance, the Maltese Central Bank, whose capital is also fully owned by the Ministry of Finance.
With respect to the Fed, I believe there is some private ownership, because I believe the Americans never nationalised anything.
Baxxter, you could not put it better.
Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy. My gawd, here we have a little house husband who has transformed into a FBI/CIA/KGB antihero who will save us all from that big bad world out there. No more dishwashing or kitchen duties, Kevvy, get out there and save the world from itself. (and us)
Baxxter, compare Kev’s arguments to the material in the article below. It is a must-read, and I am morally convinced that it does shed a lot of light on Kev’s statements about the Soviets, the central bankers and his conversion from communism.
And those Money Links in the menu bar of the website are worth a quick scan.
http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/6720
I haven’t been hovering at all, Baxxter. The globalist cartel I speak of includes a number of nationalities. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about it’s because you lack the information, having long decided you’ve sussed it out when in fact you’re neck deep in fantasy land.
Let me be clear, Baxxter. Just as there are Jewish globalist bankers there are also Westerners. And just like their Western cronies, they loathe the slaves, be they Jews, British, American, French or German. In fact, the Jews in Israeli are in for a rough time themselves. Knowingly or unknowingly, we’re all in this debt-bowl together, all of us proles, slaves and serfs.
As for Lowell, he was given space on Mfy at a time when he was censored by the media. For that all heavens broke lose.
Oh I get it, Kev. What you’ve been trying to tell us all along, through the cut-and-paste method, is that we poor are screwed, while the rich lord it over us.
Big revelation.
I’ve known it since I was about four, and the kids at school were playing with their Transformers and I was told we were too poor, and not even Father Christmas could change it.
And you’re not even one of us, Kev. You have your snout deep in the trough. So don’t come here telling us how you’re being screwed along with us by The System.
Sure, I’m being screwed. But you ARE The System.
The Bundesbank:
http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/statutes/BBankG.htm
It is clear under Part 1 that:
“2. Legal form, capital and domicile
The Deutsche Bundesbank is a Federal corporation under public law. Its capital, amounting to five billion Deutsche Mark, is held by the Federal Government. The Bank is domiciled in Frankfurt am Main.”
The Bundesbank holds the largest individual share in the ECB’s share capital – about 19%.
Ciccio, the BoE is controlled by the Bank of England Nominees Ltd., whose shareholders are kept secret. These bankers govern over the issuance of the pound and set the interest rates at which their own commercial banks can borrow money from the BoE (the Central Bank, which is nominally publicly-owned). Currently the rate stands at 0.5 percent, giving their banks a huge profit margin. Money is no problem for Central Banks – they can create it out of thin air. When the commercial and ‘investment’ banks take risks and fail, they get to be bailed out by the taxpayer, so that while profits are privatised, losses are socialised.
The bankers OWN the central banks and they govern the issuance of money that goes on to fill their banks, eventually multiplied through public-wealth-sponging fractional reserve banking.
And yet, no matter how much fiat money they create through banking magic, real wealth is the result of the hard work of slaves, much of which is sponged by the bankers through usury and diluted currency.
If you think any country will ever come out of this debt spiral, you must believe in Santa.
Oh, and by the way, Ciccio, all the BoE really holds is publicly-owned debt. The central bank is no longer a vault with the people’s money, but a bakers’ tool to issue debt and control the currency.
Kev, all you can come up with is yet another conspiracy theory, and you actually present it, once again, as if it is a given fact. This is absolutely ridiculuous.
Look at these websites – they present the same conspiracy that you refer to about the Bank of England Nominees Limited.
In the first link, down on the right hand side, there are links to the sort of subjects you like – banking scams, money scams, globalists and so on.
In the second link, there is a pdf reply from the Bank of England to a Freedom of Information Act question. Have a look at it.
http://forumnews.wordpress.com/about/bank-of-england-nominees/
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/bank_of_england_nominees_ltd
Bank of England Nominees Limited is a subsidiary of the BoE, and therefore does not control the BoE.
As for your statement that the BoE holds publicly owned debt, which I suppose you mean Treasury stocks, you know this is not correct. Central banks are normally not allowed to lend money to the government. The BoE’s main assets are loans to the banking system.
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/annualreport/2010/2010full.pdf
Kev, you are also conveniently forgetting something important. In the UK, under Labour, the regulation of the banking sector was taken away from the BoE and handed over to the Financial Services Authority. Are you suggesting that the Rotschilds of this world are in control of the FSA as well?
Ciccio, so the Deutsche Bundesbank’s capital amounts to just five billion Deutsche Mark?
No wonder it is publicly owned. It too is insolvent, but it’s got 80 million slaves as collateral.
But WHO controls this perfect tool, ciccio? That is what you need to watch out for.
Kev, you now say “But WHO controls this perfect tool, ciccio? That is what you need to watch out for.”
But before you said “…the Monopoly game has been won by the very few who literally own the shares (officially secret – by law) of the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve, the ECB and a multitude of central banks across the globe, plus of course, the IMF, the WB, etc. ” – You were talking literally about share ownership. You have to decide.
Your argument was based on the argument that who owns the banks receives the net benefit of the loan interests which enslave the nation. So I suppose that if the Treasury owns the BoE, and the German government owns the stock of the Bundesbank, then it is evident to me that it is the governments that receive those benefits. Since those banks publish their accounts, it should be easy to control whether the governments are accounting for the dividends in their revenues.
“Central banks are normally not allowed to lend money to the government.” – is that what you’re saying ciccio? Get your head in order, please. The Federal Reserve and the BoE are two prime examples of central banks that issue currency on loan to the Treasury.
Kev, let me correct my statement about central banks lending to government. I am comfortable that this statement is correct for the BoE, the Maltese central bank, and of course the ECB with respect to European governments.
The BoE does not buy and hold UK Treasury stocks, nor does the Maltese central bank except in what is called “open market operations” and that is part of ensuring liquidity in the market.
I believe this statement applies also to all cases where the central banks are owned by the government, and this would be so because to do otherwise would mean precisely that government is printing money.
In the case of the Federal Reserve, the situation may be (and I think it is) different because, as I conceded before, the Fed has, as far as I remember, private ownership.
Kev, one more little thing to conclude this long debate. It’s about the capital of the Bundesbank, which you question. In the case of central banks, it does not matter how much capital they have on the balance sheet. What matters is how much and what quality of assets they carry in respect of the money in circulation liability. It is that part of their financial position that matters, because that is what central banks defend: the money in circulation.
Ciccio, I read your recent comments and you seem to be on the verge of realising that central banks are powerful tools, but not yet. To close this I’ll have to back-track.
You see, you’re mesmerised by legalities as if the rule of law applies at such levels. Laws are for slaves, ciccio: some laws are aimed to keep slaves in line while others are meant to hoodwink them.
So, given that you’ve been hoodwinked, here’s the back-track:
This is how Edward Bernays, the ‘father’ of the Western media, justifies the invisible (anti-democratic) manipulation of the masses (Propaganda, 1928):
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.
“In almost every act of our lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons […] who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind…”
So you see, the reason you fail to see through the illusion is precisely because you are not meant to.
Some people believe they know it all simply because they’re literate. Others think they’re a notch up because they’ve had a sound education. Yet without critical thinking literacy and education are just a form of enslavement. The more one is ‘educated’, the deeper one is immersed in the illusion. Everything makes sense because one deception justifies the next. The means towards this deception is the false word.
Here’s a quick example. Why did Greece, Ireland and Porugal have had to be FORCED into accepting a ‘rescue package’, a ‘bailout’, ‘aid’? (Read the pertinent news if you’ve missed these sagas – they’re being forced into accepting a second ‘bailout package’ now.)
I’m sure you’ll find some nonsense to justify the fog covering this deliberate debt-trap.
It’s like bailing water out of a boat by pouring more water into it. That is what you’ll need to justify, ciccio.
I note that Daphne is on go-slow mode, but anyway, here’s a better example of deception. Some weeks ago Newsnight (BBC) made yet another ‘attack’ on ‘greedy bankers’.
[Daphne – I’m not on go-slow mode, Kevin, but the opposite of that. This website is not my job. My go-fast is elsewhere right now.]
This time, the banks were attacked for ‘NOT lending enough money’. Indeed, they were to lend £16 billion last year and instead ‘only’ £14 billion were available. Speaker after speaker lambasted the ‘greedy bankers’ whose faces were lampooned and disgraced.
But then, if you really know what’s going on you’d know that bankers would lend a trillion a day if they could – if they can borrow it from the central bank, that is. £14 billion is already beyond the limit, of course, unless you don’t want to hyperinflate the currency through fractional reserve banking (funny how they always speak of Quantitative Easing as if this was the only way to inflate a currency – that is, to dilute it, debase it, counterfeit it…).
And yet, BoE interest rates stand at just 0.5%, and inflation, currently at 4.5%, is expected to reach 5% by the end of this year. The pound is going to the dogs, there is no doubt about that. The euro will be saved at great costs to us taxpayer. The dollar will collapse and be replaced by a world currency.
Now you can all get back to cabbages, sprouts and KushKieris.
Kev, you said:
“I read your recent comments and you seem to be on the verge of realising that central banks are powerful tools, but not yet…”
Kev, what I wrote is all O’Level Economics. Used to be, at least.
Kev, I am not the God Almighty, so there may be things I miss. However, my feeling is that you are the one who got it all wrong.
I actually think that central bankers have no powers.
The real power lies with the big banks, which are privately owned. The recent financial crisis confirms this.
Central bankers had not even realised what was going on, until they were forced by politicians, and by the lobby of the private bank owners, to help in the bailout by making more money available to the banks.
I’m sure you’re busy elsewhere, Daphne. Perhaps doing something more erudite than writing about cabbages and useful idiots.
Magic Kiosk comes to mind.
Unbelievit! Mr. Hu (brother of) Manwel Cuschieri* is asking Greece to pay Euro 120 billion** for his chair in the European Parliament. And that is before he starts drawing a salary.
*Manwel Cuschieri is the one who campaigned so vehemently against the EU on Super-one radio pre-2003.
**That’s the amount of the bailout package:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/24/world-stock-markets-greece-bailout
(That’s from a left wing newspaper).
A sixth EU parliamentary seat in exchange for the economic bailout of a country going down the pan? The man won’t even cut it as a councillor for Bubaqra.
Fhimtuh hazin miskin.
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=15972
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O27DyNLpxPQ&feature=player_embedded
Issa se jghajjarna cwiec ukoll?
@ Charmaine
There is no such thing as solidarity with Greece (am referring to the principle not the layman meaning of the word). The only reason Greece is being kept afloat (to suffer a unnatural and prolonged agony) is because its two main lenders are France and Germany, to the tune of EUR 100 billion (roughly a third of its debt).
As Keynes put it, if I borrow one dollar it is my problem. If I borrow a million dollars, it is your problem. Applying the same principle France and Germany have every interest to keep Greece going to increase their coffers through remunerative bond yields.
As to the need for translating judgments and legislation, I fail to see the rationale of the exercise. Let me just remind you that all translated directives and regulations acknowledge (somewhat sheepishly) that in the event of any discrepancy between the original and translated text, the former shall prevail. So why should I refer to a potentially flawed and ineffective text in the first place? I remain open to persuasion on this one.
Who would have loaned Greece all that money if Greece was not part of the Eurozone?
The French and other banks only lent money to Greece because they were under the impression that Greece, being a country that qualified for joining the Euro, was a financially stable country.
Of course there should be no solidarity with Greece. The Greeks overspent their budgets and deceived the foreign banks about their financial stability by hiding their debts.
The bailout by the EU leaders is not an act of solidarity with Greece. The EU leaders are telling the Greeks very clearly that they have to tighten their belts and pay back all the loans – only that they will be given time to do so given that right now they seem to be more interested in violent clashes with the police on the streets of Athens.
France and Germany know that there’s no way Greece will ever pay its debt in full. Passing measures through parliament is one thing, implementing them is another.
However things aren’t too rosy for France and Germany themselves; they need to keep Greece going while their own economies recover before taking the hit.
But France and Germany know that if Greece is forced to privatise its assets in a short period of time, their companies may benefit by purchasing those assets at good prices. That by itself will make good for any debt not paid by the Greeks. Since some of the deficit is going into the revenues of those companies, that’s another way the French and the Greeks will get their loan money back. But this is business.
If you have time to complain you have time to do something about it!
This is what scares me about the MLP. The party’s threshold is so low. I have no idea what the Maltese people see in him. Obviously no intellect here.
I do not see him joining a think-tank. He is not fit for the Maltese parliament let alone the European parliament.
Couldn’t they have elected someone with some level of education? Isn’t a formal education a prerequisite to joining the MLP? I want politicians who are more educated than I am to represent me, not someone with an undernourished brain.
Daphne, I am curious: did Cuschieri finish secondary education?
John Dalli did a lot for Spanish cucumbers. What can’t he do for a Maltese cabbage?
By the looks of it Cuschieri did not even reach first grade in elementary education.
Maltese for Brussels sprouts: kabocci taz-zokk.